The present invention generally relates to a carbon dioxide based extraction system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an extraction system utilizing subcritical liquid carbon dioxide to extract compounds from botanical materials.
Botanical materials contain a variety of extractable compounds that are useful for many applications. For example, certain cannabinoids obtained from industrial hemp can be used for medicinal purposes, including the treatment of cramps, migraines, nausea, asthma and convulsions.
Carbon dioxide has been demonstrated in the past to be useful in extracting compounds from botanical materials. For example, there is known in the art supercritical carbon dioxide extraction systems, having pressures greater than 7.4 MPa and temperatures greater than 31° C., to be commonly used to extract compounds from botanical materials. There are also known in the art subcritical carbon dioxide extraction systems, having pressures and temperatures below the critical point of carbon dioxide. While these systems can be effective, they are expensive in both capital and operating costs, especially for supercritical systems, and frequently require either substantial pre-treatment or post-extraction treatments to produce an extract with the desired quality.
Therefore, there exists a need to provide a cleaning system which can effectively and efficiently extract organic compounds from botanical materials and minimize post-extraction treatments.